Dear X-Ray Machine Reader

The airport-scanner operator will flip when you roll through security with this backpack:

By Evan Roth, via MAKE

Airline Baggage Fees

With regard to my air travel experiences, I’ve always been the exception to the rule. While others complain about lost bags and missed connections, I’ve always found flights to have fantastic food, friendly stewards, and ne’er have I had a bag lost by an airline.

This year, that’s starting to change. In July, Olympic Airlines disappointed me by not allowing me to carry my skateboard onboard the aircraft (they confiscated it). The meal on that flight was inedible. Cornbread like a brick, a mini-hot dog that had a rubbery consistency, and a mini-brownie that tasted like chalk and felt like a sponge.

On my United flight last week, I was charged $15 to check my 1st bag. Now, Continental is doing the same.

As an economist, I think prices should reflect services rendered, in order to pass on costs only to those that use the service. What pisses me off about the United bag fee is that is was never disclosed to me before I bought the ticket. Fare-search engines like Kayak.com and Expedia.com should ask how many bags you plan to check, and adjust the flight cost accordingly. This way, you might find that a $250 roundtrip flight on Alaska might actually be less expensive than a $225 roundtrip fare on United or Continental, considering the $30 fee to check a bag each way.

If a fee is not disclosed, it’s unethical.

Postcards from Greece

Here are a few photos from my trip in Greece from last month:

(click on them individually to enlarge)

Mini Bears Roam Greece

We ran into this little animal inside the Starbucks in Varkiza:

(click to enlarge)

Unbelievable Wealth

I thought London was wealthy — here in Athens, it’s out of control!  Last night, we went to a nightclub called Island with Patrick and Pavlos to celebrate the American College of Greece’s commencement, and the parking lot consisted of a Ferrari F430 Spyder, a Ferrari 599, a Porsche Turbo, an Audi R8, an Aston Martin DB V8, a BMW M6, various Range Rovers, Lotuses; the list goes on.  I’ve never seen any parking lot quite like it (though I imagine car meetups in Dubai would blow this out of the water!)

Here are the comparatively humble shots of London’s supercars from our visit last week:

Little Venice

Given that Athens and the surrounding Greek islands are to be my home this summer, I’ve been doing some research on Greek history.  One name that keeps popping up is Eleftherios Venizelos, a prolific Greek statesman who was at the country’s helm as Crete revolted from Ottoman rule and became a part of Greece. Venizelos was the deciding factor in Greece’s decision to side with the allies (the Triple Entente) in World War I. The Greek King, Constantine, was related by blood to the German monarchy and hence supported the Central Powers. The fact that Venizelos was able to prevail over his own King speaks of his power and tact. Due to Mr. Venizelos’ alliance with the Entente, he was granted a seat at the Treaty of Paris, where the winners of the war divided up the spoils. Greece then received the Dodecanese Islands, some coastal areas in West Turkey (Smyrna/Izmir and Thrace), which brought the newly enlarged Greek empire to the Constantinople’s doorstep (the Greeks had long dreamed of owning an empire that included Constantinople and coastal Anatolia).

When I first came upon his surname, Venizelos, I thought it must’ve been an ancient progenitor of the name of modern Venezuela (many cities in South America are named after cities in Europe). I found the true story to be much more interesting: Amerigo Vespucci, upon seeing villages built atop stilts in South America, was reminded of Venice’s homes and decreed that the land was to be called Venezuola, meaning “little Venice” in Italian. It was later hispanicized using a Spanish diminutive form -zuela, and hasn’t changed since.

Syria is Stuck (In The Middle Ages)

I’m thinking of traveling through the Middle East this summer, and in the course of my research, I’ve read a ton about Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.

The U.S. State Department gives an idea of what Syria’s economy is like:

“Syria is a middle-income, developing country with an economy based on agriculture, oil, industry, and tourism. However, Syria’s economy faces serious challenges and impediments to growth, including: a large and poorly performing public sector; declining rates of oil production; widening non-oil deficit; wide scale corruption; weak financial and capital markets; and high rates of unemployment tied to a high population growth rate. In addition, Syria currently is the subject of U.S. economic sanctions…”

Sounds like a basket case. It’s pretty sad when runaway population growth causes increasing unemployment.

“Agriculture [...] accounts for 25% of GDP and employs 42% of the total labor force.”

I’ve got to say, that’s really sad. It’s 2008 — wave of the future and all — and Syria has nearly half its workforce doing the menial labor of growing and gathering food. I’m pretty sure that the characters on the show Lost manage to employ less than 20% of their population gathering food.

In the United States, only 1.8% of of workers are employed in agriculture, which allows the other 98% to pursue whatever it is they choose.

U.S. State Department - Syria: Background Note

View From The Denver Art Museum

(click to enlarge)

Que le monde est petit !

Today, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, dribbling my soccer ball home, when all of a sudden a car honks at me. I see its window rolling down, so I peer into the car, and some guy yells out “Cameron! Is that you?”.

Immediately I realize it’s Steven, a young man I met in Nice less than three months ago, and ran into at Gare du Nord in Paris by chance the next week.

It’s a small world.

It reminded me of some other small world stories I’ve experienced.

My roommate Nathan introduced me to Ben A, one of his schoolmates. Ben A has a cousin who goes to University of Oregon. Nathan and I went to Whistler over Martin Luther King weekend, and we ended up randomly meeting a group of girls from the University of Oregon who we hung out with for the remainder of the trip, and one of them, it turned out, was Maddie - Ben A’s cousin.

It’s fantastic when these kinds of stories get a little more interesting. It did. In August, I was sipping a doppio espresso at Starbucks on Avenue de l’Opera in Paris, and was startled to hear a young lady’s voice blurt out “Cameron?!?”

I turned around, only to find Ben A’s cousin Maddie again, a world away from the snowy Canada where we’d met.

Que le monde est petit !

Upon telling another friend, Stephanie, about my small world experience in Whistler and Paris, she went ahead and trumped mine:

“My junior year of high school I had a class with a Belgian exchange student who was studying at Ballard High School for the year. She left and after that and I thought I’d never see her again. On my first day of class at the University of Granada in Spain, guess who sits down right next to me??? The Belgian exchange student herself.”

¡Qué casualidad!

In an trivial yet interesting twist, Stephanie’s long lost friend from elementary school, Asia, by chance ended up in the same study abroad program in Granada - even though they go to different universities back home. By chance, I know Asia through my old roommate Nathan, the same Nathan who introduced me to Ben A in the first place.

They Speak English In London?

Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder confessed today he didn’t know until Tuesday that people spoke English in London.  Crowder, a former Florida Gator and Atlanta native, apparently isn’t sure where the plane is headed when it takes off this afternoon for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants at London’s Wembley Stadium.  “I couldn’t find London on a map if they didn’t have the names of the countries,” Crowder said. “I swear to God. I don’t know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that.”

“I know (Washington Redskins linebacker) London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him. That’s the closest thing I know to London. He’s black, so I’m sure he’s not from London. I’m sure that’s a coincidental name.”

Via The Palm Beach Post.

City of Angels Photoroll

Shopping at Kitson

Bought some kicks and a gift at the Kitson boutique on Robertson boulevard. There was a Rolls-Royce Phantom parked out front, confirmation that I was in good company.

Shopping at the Grove

We went shopping at the Grove, just east of Beverly Hills. Probably checking out Kitson on Robertson Boulevard later.

Straight Outta Malibu

We met up with a friend of ours in Santa Monica, who was kind enough to show us around the 3rd St. Promenade, the beach, and the pier. Pasteur wouldn’t exactly recommend swimming in Santa Monica, so we headed to Malibu Lagoon to take a dip in the sea there.

Nice Photoroll

I’ve been staying in Nice mostly and venturing out to Ventimiglia, Cap d’Ail, Saint Tropez, Cannes, Juan-les-Pins, and Monaco on day trips. I haven’t neglected to kick it in Nice though (despite the rocky beach). Here are some photos.

It turns out that the guys below on the left and right (respectively) are grads of Western Washington University. We ran into a bunch of other people from Seattle that week traveling around Nice. Small world.

MacGuyver Spotted In Manhattan

Yes, that’s a stone from a mini zen garden, heated on a gas flame for 10 minutes, and effectively used as a stand-in for a burning coal. MacGuyver at his finest. The whole time we thought Andy Samberg was going to show up, little did we know that instead we’d be graced by an 80’s icon.

Gotham Photoroll

Due to the fact that my sister lives and works in Midtown Manhattan, she never does any touristy things. I decided to change that by dragging her to Times Square and to the top of the Empire State Building, where we were able to immortalize the moment with these photos. Luckily, the Observation Deck on the 86 Floor was equipped with a strong fence that acts perfectly as a suicide-prevention device tripod.

Apple Store - 5th Avenue at 59th St.

The Biggest Apple Store in the World (not to mention in the Big Apple) juts out of the plaza in front of Bergdorf Goodman on 5th. I had to go to the Genius Bar to get a power adapter because European voltage destroyed it. Apple gave me the adapter for free with no questions asked, even though Europe destroyed it. Thank god for AppleCare.

Cannes

We went to Cannes today. It was beautiful weather (as always in August) and I took in the sights.

Fist Fulla Ferraris

I took this photo a week ago in Monaco, and the memories of being surrounded by Ferraris are still strong in my mind. I’m heading to Monaco for dinner tonight. I went to the beach in Antibes and Cannes earlier-it was beautiful, merci a dieu. The weather report said it would rain today.

Rugby

I got to play Rugby today outside of the Hotel de Ville (Paris). My mom snapped this shot of me. When I was waiting to play, I asked a Frenchman (in French) about rugby strategy, as I’ve watched the game but not played it much, and he talked my ear off for an hour. Perhaps I learned something, though.

Back On The Continent

I’ve been flying quite a bit over the last few weeks, but this time I decided to have a few glasses of wine and read instead of trying hopelessly to fall asleep. Whenever I fly transatlantic, upon landing I try to stay up until 22:00 (10PM) local time in the city of arrival, which usually entails being up for 24 hours straight. Translation: Red Bull.

I think I’m getting quite good at this.

Wakeboarding On The Open Sea

I didn’t know if it would be too choppy out there yesterday…in the end I’d only fallen once due to another boat’s wake. The other times were due to me attempting to spin…I didn’t land any of those. Cheers to Mohammad for taking the photo.

All This Sun Is Getting To Me

We’ve seen some pretty warm weather in St. Barths. I’m finally starting to work into a little tan. Flying to Nice tomorrow (albeit via San Juan, Newark, and London). Hopefully I’ll make all my connections.

Monaco Photoroll

Went to Monaco a few times this month.  Here are some photos.

Lunch In Paris at the Louvre

Meeting up with my mother this morning in Paris, she’d decided on eating at Café Marly, a chic eatery perched on the side of the Musée de Louvre, mere paces from I. M. Pei’s famed glass pyramid. We people-watched from our table…I ordered a delicious Croque Monsieur; my mother, an omelette with spinach. Here’s to good food, wherever you find it.

I Found a Zara

I flipped out when I spotted a Zara on Rue Jean Médecin in Nice. Inside, I found a treat in a white-collared baby blue shirt. It’s got that thin collar (barely over an inch thick) for those skinny white ties that we’re seeing so much of on red carpets these days.

Dicen que viven en la isla, pero de la fantasía

(click to enlarge)

Puerto Rico will always keep me coming back. Took this shot today at Seven Seas Beach, Fajardo, Borinquen.

Tabarca

We went out on a boat and cruised to Tabarca, an island off the Costa Blanca. It was a beautiful little paradise.  We went snorkeling for a bit before we rolled back to Alacant.

Allons-y! (…and we’re off!)

Before our driver’s meeting downstairs at the Hotel George V, I was outside chatting up some of the other gumballers. Met some guys leaving early in a silver X5 who were with DC Shoes. I asked them if any other skateboarding people were coming, they said Tony Hawk was coming from London and maybe joining the rally a day late. I saw some semi-celebs today. There was Chris Eubank, a Brit and a former boxing champion. He was wearing a long tank top with short-shorts which made him look like he wasn’t wearing any pants, and he was galavanting around outside the hotel on his razor scooter causing trouble and posing for photos. I found Alex Roy ticketing an NYPD squadcar parked in the hotel’s turnaround. Pretty ironic considering Alex was wearing a full Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform, and the fact that we were in the middle of Paris. Also, Kim Schmitz was wandering around, and Maximillion Cooper spoke downstairs at our driver’s meeting. Over the next few days, We’ll be driving through France and Spain and taking a ferry to Morocco, where we’ll drive to Fez, and then turn back and drive all the way to the French Riviera, hopefully in time for the film festival at Cannes and the Grand Prix in Monaco.

Tags: 2004, alex roy, chris eubank, gumball 3000, gumball rally, hotel george v, kim schmitz, maximillion cooper, may 2004, may 5 2004, Paris, rally